[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 27, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 27CFR179.11]

[Page 1201-1204]
 
            TITLE 27--ALCOHOL, TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND FIREARMS
 
 CHAPTER I--BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND FIREARMS, DEPARTMENT OF THE 
                                TREASURY
 
PART 179--MACHINE GUNS, DESTRUCTIVE DEVICES, AND CERTAIN OTHER FIREARMS--Table of Contents
 
                         Subpart B--Definitions
 
Sec. 179.11  Meaning of terms.


    When used in this part and in forms prescribed under this part, 
where not otherwise distinctly expressed or manifestly incompatible with 
the intent thereof, terms shall have the meanings ascribed in this 
section. Words in the plural form shall include the singular, and vice 
versa, and words importing the masculine gender shall include the 
feminine. The terms ``includes'' and ``including'' do not exclude other 
things not enumerated which are in the same general class or are 
otherwise within the scope thereof.
    Antique firearm. Any firearm not designed or redesigned for using 
rim fire or conventional center fire ignition with fixed ammunition and 
manufactured in or before 1898 (including any matchlock, flintlock, 
percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system or replica thereof, 
whether actually manufactured before or after the year 1898) and also 
any firearm using fixed ammunition manufactured in or before 1898, for 
which ammunition is no longer manufactured in the United States and is 
not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade.
    Any other weapon. Any weapon or device capable of being concealed on 
the person from which a shot can be discharged through the energy of an 
explosive, a pistol or revolver having a barrel with a smooth bore 
designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell, weapons with 
combination shotgun and rifle barrels 12 inches or more, less than 18 
inches in length, from which only a single discharge can be made from 
either barrel without manual reloading, and shall include any such 
weapon which may be readily restored to fire. Such term shall not 
include a pistol or a revolver having a rifled bore, or rifled bores, or 
weapons designed, made, or intended to be fired from the shoulder and 
not capable of firing fixed ammunition.
    ATF officer. An officer or employee of the Bureau of Alcohol, 
Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) authorized to perform any function relating 
to the administration or enforcement of this part.
    Customs officer. Any officer of the Customs Service or any 
commissioned, warrant, or petty officer of the Coast Guard, or any agent 
or other person authorized by law or designated by the Secretary of the 
Treasury to perform any duties of an officer of the Customs Service.
    Dealer. Any person, not a manufacturer or importer, engaged in the 
business of selling, renting, leasing, or loaning firearms and shall 
include pawnbrokers who accept firearms as collateral for loans.
    Destructive device. (a) Any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas (1) 
bomb, (2) grenade, (3) rocket having a propellent charge of more than 4 
ounces, (4) missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more 
than one-quarter ounce, (5) mine, or (6) similar device; (b) any

[[Page 1202]]

type of weapon by whatever name known which will, or which may be 
readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive 
or other propellant, the barrel or barrels of which have a bore of more 
than one-half inch in diameter, except a shotgun or shotgun shell which 
the Director finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for 
sporting purposes; and (c) any combination of parts either designed or 
intended for use in converting any device into a destructive device as 
described in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this definition and from which a 
destructive device may be readily assembled. The term shall not include 
any device which is neither designed or redesigned for use as a weapon; 
any device, although originally designed for use as a weapon, which is 
redesigned for use as a signaling, pyrotechnic, line throwing, safety, 
or similar device; surplus ordnance sold, loaned, or given by the 
Secretary of the Army under 10 U.S.C. 4684(2), 4685, or 4686, or any 
device which the Director finds is not likely to be used as a weapon, or 
is an antique or is a rifle which the owner intends to use solely for 
sporting purposes.
    Director. The Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, 
the Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC.
    Director of the Service Center. A director of an Internal Revenue 
Service Center in an internal revenue region.
    District director. A district director of the Internal Revenue 
Service in an internal revenue district.
    Executed under penalties of perjury. Signed with the prescribed 
declaration under the penalties of perjury as provided on or with 
respect to the return, form, or other document or, where no form of 
declaration is prescribed, with the declaration:

    ``I declare under the penalties of perjury that this--(insert type 
of document, such as, statement, application, request, certificate), 
including the documents submitted in support thereof, has been examined 
by me and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, is true, correct, and 
complete.''

    Exportation. The severance of goods from the mass of things 
belonging to this country with the intention of uniting them to the mass 
of things belonging to some foreign country.
    Exporter. Any person who exports firearms from the United States.
    Firearm. (a) A shotgun having a barrel or barrels of less than 18 
inches in length; (b) a weapon made from a shotgun if such weapon as 
modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or 
barrels of less than 18 inches in length; (c) a rifle having a barrel or 
barrels of less than 16 inches in length; (d) a weapon made from a rifle 
if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches 
or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length; (e) any other 
weapon, as defined in this subpart; (f) a machine gun; (g) a muffler or 
a silencer for any firearm whether or not such firearm is included 
within this definition; and (h) a destructive device. The term shall not 
include an antique firearm or any device (other than a machine gun or 
destructive device) which, although designed as a weapon, the Director 
finds by reason of the date of its manufacture, value, design, and other 
characteristics is primarily a collector's item and is not likely to be 
used as a weapon. For purposes of this definition, the length of the 
barrel having an integral chamber(s) on a shotgun or rifle shall be 
determined by measuring the distance between the muzzle and the face of 
the bolt, breech, or breech block when closed and when the shotgun or 
rifle is cocked. The overall length of a weapon made from a shotgun or 
rifle is the distance between the extreme ends of the weapon measured 
along a line parallel to the center line of the bore.
    Fixed ammunition. That self-contained unit consisting of the case, 
primer, propellant charge, and projectile or projectiles.
    Frame or receiver. That part of a firearm which provides housing for 
the hammer, bolt or breechblock and firing mechanism, and which is 
usually threaded at its forward portion to receive the barrel.
    Importation. The bringing of a firearm within the limits of the 
United States or any territory under its control or jurisdiction, from a 
place outside thereof (whether such place be a foreign country or 
territory subject to the jurisdiction of the United States), with intent

[[Page 1203]]

to unlade. Except that, bringing a firearm from a foreign country or a 
territory subject to the jurisdiction of the United States into a 
foreign trade zone for storage pending shipment to a foreign country or 
subsequent importation into this country, under Title 26 of the United 
States Code, and this part, shall not be deemed importation.
    Importer. Any person who is engaged in the business of importing or 
bringing firearms into the United States.
    Machine gun. Any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can 
be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without 
manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. The term shall 
also include the frame or receiver of any such weapon, any part designed 
and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed 
and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a machine gun, and any 
combination of parts from which a machine gun can be assembled if such 
parts are in the possession or under the control of a person.
    Make. This term and the various derivatives thereof shall include 
manufacturing (other than by one qualified to engage in such business 
under this part), putting together, altering, any combination of these, 
or otherwise producing a firearm.
    Manual reloading. The inserting of a cartridge or shell into the 
chamber of a firearm either with the hands or by means of a mechanical 
device controlled and energized by the hands.
    Manufacturer. Any person who is engaged in the business of 
manufacturing firearms.
    Muffler or silencer. Any device for silencing, muffling, or 
diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination 
of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for the use in assembling 
or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part 
intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication.
    Person. A partnership, company, association, trust, estate, or 
corporation, as well as a natural person.
    Pistol. A weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a 
projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand, and 
having (a) a chamber(s) as an integral part(s) of, or permanently 
aligned with, the bore(s); and (b) a short stock designed to be gripped 
by one hand and at an angle to and extending below the line of the 
bore(s).
    Regional director (compliance). The principal ATF regional official 
responsible for administering regulations in this part.
    Revolver. A projectile weapon, of the pistol type, having a 
breechloading chambered cylinder so arranged that the cocking of the 
hammer or movement of the trigger rotates it and brings the next 
cartridge in line with the barrel for firing.
    Rifle. A weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended 
to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or 
remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed cartridge to fire 
only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of 
the trigger, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily 
restored to fire a fixed cartridge.
    Shotgun. A weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and 
intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and 
made or remade to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun 
shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of projectiles (ball 
shot) or a single projectile for each pull of the trigger, and shall 
include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire a fixed 
shotgun shell.
    Transfer. This term and the various derivatives thereof shall 
include selling, assigning, pledging, leasing, loaning, giving away, or 
otherwise disposing of.
    United States. The States and the District of Columbia.
    U.S.C. The United States Code.
    Unserviceable firearm. A firearm which is incapable of discharging a 
shot by means of an explosive and incapable of

[[Page 1204]]

being readily restored to a firing condition.

(26 U.S.C. 7805 (68A Stat. 917), 27 U.S.C. 205 (49 Stat. 981 as 
amended), 18 U.S.C. 926 (82 Stat. 959), and sec. 38, Arms Export Control 
Act (22 U.S.C. 2778, 90 Stat. 744))

[T.D. ATF-48, 43 FR 13538, Mar. 31, 1978; 44 FR 55842, Sept. 28, 1979; 
T.D. ATF-241, 51 FR 39630, Oct. 29, 1986; T.D. ATF-270, 53 FR 10492, 
Mar. 31, 1988; T.D. ATF-396, 63 FR 12647, Mar. 16, 1998]